Strong, stable and sturdy
Free Newspapers: The Baslerstab has so far withstood all attacks from commuter newspapers. With a new campaign, it is positioning itself with greater confidence and independence.
Free newspapers The Baslerstab has so far withstood all attacks from commuter newspapers. With a new campaign, it is positioning itself more confidently and independently.Baslerstab, the free newspaper published five times a week by the Basler Mediengruppe (BM), is doing well, relatively well. Admittedly, this title also suffered a drop in advertising last year - the city edition fell by 11.6 percent and the regional edition by 14.6 percent. This corresponds to a loss of around 1000 pages. However, with a total volume of around 6600 advertising pages last year, the Baslerstab alone accounts for a fifth of the total advertising volume of all the free titles listed in the VSW statistics. If one compares the number of advertising pages per issue, the Baslerstab is not at the top with 19 pages, but still very far ahead. For comparison: last year, ZürichExpress, with 2742 advertising pages, did not even reach half the volume of Baslerstab and only 11 advertising pages per issue, Berner Bär reached 1212 pages or 12 pages per issue, 20 Minuten Zürich reached 2874 pages or 11.5 pages per issue. In Basel, 20 Minuten, with only 765 pages, was no match for the Baslerstab. In the classified sections, where the free title suffered losses above all, 20 Minuten gained nothing.
Although 20 Minuten is also avidly read in Basel, the BM newspaper has not lost any readers as a result. Publishing director Daniel Weick assumes that the Basel staff can now certify 201518 copies (previous year 200727). Readership, last determined in the fall, was stable at 174,000 readers.
Often the nose in front
All of this strengthened the self-confidence of "Basel's largest free newspaper", which is also visualized in the new Baslerstab campaign that will be launched at the end of March. The new Basel agency Die Werft (see page 3) suggested a focus in terms of content and created the claim "What moves Basel and the region". This means that the Baslerstab no longer just wants to differentiate itself from 20 Minuten, but also from its sister paper Basler Zeitung, which is indeed the case time and again thanks to numerous major and minor primeurs. The nine subjects of the new campaign each form a contrast between headline and image, which is then resolved in the short text below the image.
Despite its increased self-confidence, the Baslerstab is facing new challenges. Should it form a combination with the new Express and other free titles - and switch to tabloid format - just to help Tamedia?
20 Minuten even better (see pages 1 and 15)? There is no doubt that the Basel staff is the least dependent on such an advertising combination and would rather lose than gain. "The combination is not ready to go," says Daniel Weick. That may well be true, but it is only a matter of time. In any case, the BM assumes that those who do not want to participate could feel the effects of Tamedia's aggression.
The bacon of a newspaper is good stories: advertisements for the Baslerstab from the new agency Die Werft.
Markus Knöpfli
Although 20 Minuten is also avidly read in Basel, the BM newspaper has not lost any readers as a result. Publishing director Daniel Weick assumes that the Basel staff can now certify 201518 copies (previous year 200727). Readership, last determined in the fall, was stable at 174,000 readers.
Often the nose in front
All of this strengthened the self-confidence of "Basel's largest free newspaper", which is also visualized in the new Baslerstab campaign that will be launched at the end of March. The new Basel agency Die Werft (see page 3) suggested a focus in terms of content and created the claim "What moves Basel and the region". This means that the Baslerstab no longer just wants to differentiate itself from 20 Minuten, but also from its sister paper Basler Zeitung, which is indeed the case time and again thanks to numerous major and minor primeurs. The nine subjects of the new campaign each form a contrast between headline and image, which is then resolved in the short text below the image.
Despite its increased self-confidence, the Baslerstab is facing new challenges. Should it form a combination with the new Express and other free titles - and switch to tabloid format - just to help Tamedia?
20 Minuten even better (see pages 1 and 15)? There is no doubt that the Basel staff is the least dependent on such an advertising combination and would rather lose than gain. "The combination is not ready to go," says Daniel Weick. That may well be true, but it is only a matter of time. In any case, the BM assumes that those who do not want to participate could feel the effects of Tamedia's aggression.
The bacon of a newspaper is good stories: advertisements for the Baslerstab from the new agency Die Werft.
Markus Knöpfli
